Evernorth's $64M fund includes 63-unit affordable housing site in Portland

A playground is in front of a building under construction.

File photo / Tina Fischer Evernorth’s latest syndicated fund provided $8.8 million in equity investment to 45 Dougherty, the Szanton Co.’s affordable housing development in Portland’s Libbytown neighborhood.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Four housing developments in Maine were among 10 approved for financing through a $64 million multi-investor fund pulled together by Evernorth, a nonprofit financing syndicator that provides affordable housing and community investments in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Evernorth, based in Portland and Burlington, Vt., recently closed Housing New England Fund VI, with 16 investors committing a total of $64.25 million in equity, according to a news release.

Among the Maine projects is a development called 45 Dougherty, located at 45 Dougherty Court in Portland’s Libbytown neighborhood, adjacent to Dougherty Field. Construction of the $28 million development of 63 family units, developed and owned by Portland developer Szanton Co., is 80% complete. Evernorth's Fund VI provided $8.8 million in equity investment to the project.

Aside from the four properties in Maine, one is in New Hampshire and five are in Vermont. Together, they will result in 492 housing units.

The other projects have not yet closed, an Evernorth spokesperson told Mainebiz.

Of the 10 properties financed by Fund VI, three are projected to be completed this year, adding 117 affordable units to a tight housing market.

In 2023, a separate Evernorth fund raised $54 million, providing capital for five developments in Maine.

As recently as February, a project with Evernorth involvement, Picker House Lofts in Lewiston, started welcoming residents.

Housing and ROI

Evernorth raises equity by syndicating federal low-income housing and historic tax credits as well as various state, historic and affordable housing credits.

Fund VI’s investors include community, regional and national banks as well as one of the nation’s largest mortgage banking organizations.

“In addition to receiving a reliable return on their investments, the community banks and the regional and national companies that have invested with the Housing New England Fund VI will help to build or renovate tangible, long-lasting affordable housing resources throughout northern New England,” said Cynthia Lacasse, Evernorth’s executive vice president and chief program officer.

Evernorth has a pipeline of community developments that need financing and said it would unveil Fund VII later this summer.

In the 37 years Evernorth has operated in northern New England, it has raised and deployed over $1.6 billion in equity capital for building more than 17,000 affordable homes for low- and moderate-income people.